Climate change 'not the most important problem the world faces': Abbott

As Tony Abbott and his caravan of industry leaders makes its way south from Canada to New York and on to Washington DC, the gulf between the PM's approach to climate change and that of Barack Obama is growing more apparent by the day.

Just last week Barack Obama announced plans to introduce regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by 30 per cent by 2030 using regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Abbott has responded that he is glad the President did not use a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, ignoring the point that the EPA envisions that those mechanisms are exactly how many US states will reach their targeted cuts.

Tony Abbott and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may see eye to eye on climate issues but Abbott and US president Barack Obama don't. Photo: AFP

In the past Abbott has infamously dismissed the entire notion of climate change as "crap".

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As though to underscore their different views, tonight – Monday in the US – Obama will appear in the final episode of Years of Living Dangerously, a cable series on climate change produced by, among others, Hollywood heavyweights James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Previews of the episode show the New York Times columnist Tom Friedman asking Obama, "Do you ever want to just go off on the climate deniers in Congress?"

US President Barack Obama Photo: AFP

The President responds: "Yeah, absolutely. Look, it's frustrating when the science is in front of us ... We can argue about how. But let's not argue about what's going on. The science is compelling ... The baseline fact of climate change is not something we can afford to deny. And if you profess leadership in this country at this moment in our history, then you've got to recognise this is going to be one of the most significant long-term challenges, if not the most significant long-term challenge, that this country faces and that the planet faces. The good news is that the public may get out ahead of some of their politicians."

In Ottawa, on the other hand, it appears Abbott and his host, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had a genuine meeting of minds.

Fairfax has reported Abbott is seeking to build an alliance of like-minded nations to help counter Obama's push for international action on climate change.

You could not get much more like-minded than Harper, who Abbott described as "the exemplar of a contemporary, centre-right prime minister".

Both men lead nations that are vast, mineral-rich and by world standards, empty. Both have crucial relationships with the US.

And both have little time for Obama's renewed push on climate change.

Even as Abbott seeks to downplay the issue of climate talks at a G20 meeting in Brisbane later this year, Harper is becoming increasingly frustrated with White House delays on approving the Keystone Pipeline, which if passed and built would transport carbon-rich mineral tar sands from Canada through the US for global export.